Singularity
by LordHalo
Summary: When you are being hunted so someone can use you as a weapon, your life is pretty bad. When a gravity manipulator encounters the Titans while running for his freedom, he finds himself becoming attached to one of them, drawing all of them into the fight.
1. Manifestation

**Prologue **

_2 years prior to present day: First manifestation of meta-human codenamed "Singularity". Future observation strongly recommended_

The world around him shook. It felt like an earthquake, but for some reason he remained on his feet. He could…feel the tug of the earth, the gravity that held everything in its place. His head pounded with unbearable pain. He staggered about as the buildings in the town around him began to crumble.

The screams and shouts of the people still in those buildings we're drowned out by the incessant rumbling of the foundations of everything the town stood on. The pain became too much to bear and as a scream escaped his lips, everything collapsed in an instant, the rumbling and screams cut-off in the same instant. Dead quiet. Not even the sound of an insect could be heard. From a distance it looked as if the town had simply vanished. If one drew a little closer, they could see the tallest thing around was a kneeling boy whimpering. The town had perfectly pancaked. Not even a pile of rubble remained. There was nothing left, not even a bloodstain. Another sob escaped his lips. He knew the nightmare would haunt him forever. So he ran and never looked back, afraid that if he did, the sight of the nothingness behind him would destroy what little will to live he had left.

_1 year prior to present day: Death Watch mission to acquire Class Epsilon meta-human "Singularity" to client for analysis and possible weaponization. Status: Failure_

"You...you guys just won't give up will you..." Singularity gasped as he used his gravity manipulation to run along the wall of the skyscraper ten stories up, trying hard to avoid being shot by the men on the ground. The mercenaries calling themselves "The Death Watch" had been chasing him for 6 months now. They finally caught up to him in this small city. Singularity knew they were trying to avoid killing him. Apparently someone had found out what he was and his potential for destruction and had put a very large price on his head. Last he heard the offer was $50 million dollars alive. His first thought upon hearing that was who the hell pays $50 million for a teenage meta-human? Turns out, someone who wanted a weapon capable of waging destruction on par with a nuclear weapon.

As bullets whizzed past his feet, Singularity ran out of building to run on and began plummeting ten stories with nothing but hard pavement to greet him. Time seemed to slow as he fell. He could hear one of the Death Watch complaining about how they couldn't get their bounty if he was just a pile of mush on the ground. A slight grin marked his face as the ground filled his vision. Just before hitting the ground, Singularity quickly created a zero-gravity field at his feet, killing all downward momentum. Disengaging the field, and gently landing on the ground, he cut gravity in half at his feet and began to sprint with all his might, effectively reaching a speed that made Olympic sprinters seem average.

But that still wouldn't beat a 5.56mm bullet. One of the Death Watch's better shots, let one fly and was rewarded with a puff of red blood appearing around the meta-human's right shoulder. Singularity ate the pavement violently as the bullet tore through his shoulder, he could feel the bone shatter right before the excruciating pain of being shot and then slamming face first into the ground assaulted his nerves. A scream of pain tore through the air as Singularity clutched his right shoulder, writhing in agony. Looking through blurred vision he could make out figures in the distance coming closer, and they were cheering. Gritting his teeth, the gravity manipulator slowly got back to his feet and turned to start running away again still clutching his shoulder, the blood soaking both his arm and the hand trying to put pressure on the wound. Singularity made it about 100 feet before another bullet grazed his left calf. Again he fell to the pavement crying out in pain.

The feeling of dread washed over him as he knew he wouldn't get out of this one through running away. That dread turned to anger which then manifested as rage. The air around him seemed to ripple as the gravity around him became unstable. The mercenaries slowed their pursuit, knowing that even when cornered and wounded, a meta-human could still be dangerous. "LEAVE! ME! ALONE!!" Singularity screamed out as he violently reversed gravity's polarity in the area where the mercenaries were standing, sending them flying into the air. The effort was rewarded with the sickening crack of leg and ankle bones as the mercenaries fell to the ground and the screams. "Enjoy the gift assholes!" he growled before spitting on the ground in their direction.


	2. Insertion

**Chapter 1: Insertion**

_Present day. Bounty on capture of meta-human "Singularity" revised: $100,000,000 alive. _

_Location: Death Watch encampment 200 miles northwest of Jump City_

"So you mean to tell me he still hasn't been captured?" a voice said. "No sir" said another voice; a heavy South African voice could be heard within it. "We feel he's slowly getting stronger, we're going to need to up the arsenal if we want to come out of a fight with him in one piece." The first voice sighed; the frustration of this 2 year hunt was beginning to show. "Major Obrim, if you look a little closer at the terms of our contract you'll see it states that I want him alive. It says nothing about him being uninjured." "Ahh" said the Major, the point his client was making starting to dawn on him. "I could care less about what physical condition he's in as long as he is alive and breathing on his own. Cut his limbs off, put him in a coma if you prefer, just make sure he is alive!" the voice on the phone finished. "I understand sir. Before I go let me make something clear to you." The major said his voice becoming ice cold. "And what is that Major?" "If you screw us over in anyway, I will personally put a bullet through your head." Major Obrim closed his cell phone and turned to the group of men behind him, "Alright listen up!" he shouted to get their attention, "our client has given us a green light to bring some better firepower to bear on Singularity."

A few men gave small cheers, one didn't. "Top, this kid has put everyone we've thrown at him, in the ICU. How much longer before he decides to stop holding back and kills us all?" he asked. Obrim walked over to the soldier and hauled him to his feet by his collar. "Shut up, Sanders, our gracious client has upped the ante. A broken leg or two is worth what we're gonna get out of this" Sanders' eyes widened as he knew what that meant, "That's right china," Obrim continued "Bounty has been raised: One hundred million cash for this kid alive, incapacitation is acceptable. Kid could be comatose with no limbs and we still get the full pay." All cheering stopped as fantasies over what to do with their cut of the money filled the men's minds. "OI! Snap out of it idiots!" called another voice belonging to the satellite tech. "I've got a good idea where he's going." Major Obrim was at the tech's side instantly, "Where's the little bastard going to now china?" he asked, a little bit of excitement showing in his voice. The teen had been able to evade the Death Watch a good month now. "Well it looks like the only place he can go is area Zulu 315, everything else is just desert for miles" the tech explained pointing at the grayed areas on the display. "Jump City. Never heard of it" Obrim murmured to himself as he stared at a local road map next to the satellite image "Get ya shit in gear boys, we're going west" he called over his shoulder. "Payday is coming."

_Location: Jump City, 6 miles west of Titans Tower_

Singularity slowly walked along trying to be inconspicuous. It was difficult due to what he was wearing. Having taken the hint from that encounter 6 months ago he had elected to start wearing a military plate carrier usually worn by PMCs. With the plates it was somewhat bulky so it looked weird when he wore his bomber jacket over it. He didn't feel like scaring people by showing it off because it was really too hot to be wearing a thick bomber jacket in the middle of July, but drawing attention to himself was out of the question. The fingerless gloves he wore were merely an aesthetic on his part as he found them cool, though they did help with gripping on to things. The city seemed pretty peaceful to him. Then again, he rarely stayed in any city long enough to truly appreciate whether or not it was a nice place.

After stopping at a hot dog vendor for two dogs with mustard and extra onions, Singularity stood in front of an electronics store where the TV's on display showed the local news. As he watched and ate his food, the Teen Titans came up. "Our headline today, the Teen Titans once again foiled an attack on city property by the villain known as Control Freak" the anchor said as the network showed clips of the battle. There was a green boy with pointed ears who could change into animals, the anchor called him Beast Boy; an orange skinned redhead that could fly and shoot balls of green energy from her hands was called Starfire. Singularity chuckled at the half-man half machine called Cyborg finding the name fitting. Then there was the human boy Robin, whom everyone knew as Batman's apprentice. The last Titan the news showed was the one they called Raven. Singularity had to raise his eyebrows at her. She appeared to be some kind of sorceress who could lift objects and teleport using her magic. The fact that she also had a body a lot of girls would kill for simply added to her appeal. Shaking himself out of his staring contest with the image of Raven he finished his food and continued walking around the city.

After a few hours of wandering the city, the sun began its inevitable descent below the horizon. Singularity knew he had to find some place to sleep for the night as he didn't feel like going the homeless route. Though without nearly enough money to rent a place for the night, that route seemed more and more likely as there didn't seem to be any seedy motels with open rooms or within his rather pathetic budget. The familiar feeling of desperation began to set in as night fell. The city still bustled with plenty of energy as the night owls began their usual activities, but Singularity wasn't interested in that. To him, wandering the streets of anywhere at night was a bad idea. It made it easier for his pursuers to capture him without making a scene. He may have had the ability to bend gravity to his will, but other than that, Singularity was human. He had no enhanced vision or hearing to see or hear people sneaking up or waiting for him in the dark, and this fact terrified him. It would have been enough to give anybody who had not gone through the things he had been through, a panic attack.

Singularity's desperate search for a safe place to sleep was cut violently short when lobby of the building across the street exploded without warning. The side of his head collided with the wall next to him as the explosion lifted him off his feet. Dazed and completely confused, he laid there, his head turned to the building that just had its lowest floor blown out. He could hear maniacal laughter coming from some guy who appeared to be standing on some sort of floating platform. Singularity's last image before falling unconscious was the man's face as he looked around before going into the building.

_Location: Titans Tower 4.1 miles from current incident_

The alarm blared throughout the tower as red lights flashed in every hallway. The Titans, who were winding things down for the night, rushed into the main room as the leader, Robin, checked the computer to see what the disturbance was. "Aww man," whined Beast Boy, "And I was just getting ready to hit the hay too." The other Titans didn't respond but were in silent agreement with the changeling. The only thing worse, was getting woken up at 3 A.M. to deal with a villain. "Its Dr. Light, he's broken into a jewelry store." Robin called out. "A jewelry store? Wow talk about hitting a new low." Cyborg chuckled. "TITANS! GO!" was the famous cry from Robin and they rushed to the scene of the incident.

_Location: Outside former Swanson's Famous Jewelry Emporium _

Back at the scene of the robbery in progress, Dr. Light was making his exit with a rather large bag filled with rare diamonds. "With these diamonds and the natural light energy they contain, my machine will never need to recharge ever again!" he said aloud thinking he was alone. "The only thing that needs recharging is your idea bank Dr. Light!" Robin's voice called out, as the rest of the Titans appeared to confront the rather dim-witted villain. "Yeah dude, cause you going to simply robbery is kinda sad." Beast Boy laughed. Dr. Light gritted his teeth and jumped back on his platform. "Laugh while you can little green one." He cackled as he poured all the bags of diamonds into his floating platform. A large light on the front of it began to glow brighter and brighter, until it became too painful to look at. Robin's eyes widened behind his mask, "TITANS MOVE!" he screamed as everyone hit the deck. The light put out a powerful beam of energy that barely missed Raven as she simply levitated herself to the left. She winced as she saw the beam put a large hole in a building two blocks down.

"Ughhhh" groaned Singularity as he slowly awoke to the sounds of battle right by him. He managed to raise himself to his knees as his head screamed in pain. His vision blurry he could make out a small puddle of blood on the ground that had come from the vicious gash in his head. He could feel it had dried somewhat as it had trickled down his face. Finally getting to his feet he staggered about briefly trying to get his bearings and figure out where the fight was. It wasn't until he looked up that he saw what was going on. Dr. Light had apparently taken the fight skyward and the Titans we're doing the best to try and take him down. But it seemed the platform the villain was using, was more nimble than it appeared. Every star bolt thrown by Starfire was either dodged or countered by a pulse from Dr. Light's diamond powered cannon. Cyborg's sonic cannon was just too slow to get a clean shot on the platform. Beast Boy tried transforming into multiple small birds and harassing the villain by dive bombing his head, hoping to distract the mad doctor long enough for one of the other Titans to attack him. Robin charged Dr. Light from an opposing rooftop, his Bo staff in hand. A battle cry erupted from his lungs and as he launched himself at the villain. He landed on the platform cleanly but the sudden extra weight caused it to tilt violently in one direction, making the boy wonder loose his balance. Dr. Light wasn't thrown off balance as his suit had magnetic boots that kept him squarely attached to the platform. With a smirk, he delivered a powerful kick to Robin's face who began to fall to the ground before being grabbed by Starfire. "Thanks for that Star." Robin said gratefully, while the Tameranian gave him a smile. "Enough of this" Raven muttered to herself as she levitated up to Dr. Light's height. "Azerath Metrion Zin-" she began her chant before being wrapped up by one of the villain's light whips. She growled in pain as the heat generated by them worked through her cloak and leotard forming the beginnings of first degree burns. "I don't think so" the doctor growled, remembering quite vividly what she had done to him a while back. "That's enough out of you I think!" he yelled as he cracked the whip sending Raven into a wall, stunning her and then downwards hurtling the sorceress towards the asphalt at terminal velocity. "RAVEN!" the Titans cried out, seeing their friend falling to certain death and none of them able to reach her in time.

Despite being a stupid place to be, right below the aerial battle was where Singularity found himself just as Dr. Light flung Raven towards the ground. His head still pounding from its encounter with a wall, he felt letting her get turned into a bloody smear on the pavement was out of the question. Straining, he tried to create a zero-gravity field around Raven's body and barely managed to do so, as she was ten feet away from touching the pavement. Singularity felt something wet and warm trickling down his face. He had reopened the wound on his head from the strain of stopping Raven's fall. Wonderful, he thought to himself.

"Well, well, well." He heard a voice call out as Dr. Light descended to see the supposed "hero" who had saved his nemesis from certain death. "Looks like another fool has decided to come to the rescue" the mad doctor mocked as he stopped his descent and hovered in place. The other Titans were still in too much shock over seeing a miracle happen to go after the distracted Dr. Light. Singularity looked up at the doctor, a snarl on his face. Dr. Light began to look a little uneasy, probably due to half of the gravity manipulator's head being coated in blood and him looking very pissed off.

The air around the gravity manipulator began to ripple violently as his breathing became more labored. Singularity was not happy, the pain in his head became worse which made it extremely hard to concentrate and focus gravity where he wanted it. Dr. Light's eyes widened as cold fear began infiltrating his veins, what on earth was this boy, who looked like he had just been mugged doing? Throwing his hand out, Singularity zeroed in on the area directly below Dr. Light's floating platform. Almost instantly the gravity beneath the platform quintupled, sending it down even more quickly than Raven had. Dr. Light tried to increase the power to the platform in a poor attempt to keep it aloft, but he hadn't designed its propulsion system to cope with such a drastic increase in gravity. With a deafening boom the platform hit pavement and was nearly completely crushed. The villain riding it, managed to crawl out of the wreckage only to see a green tight fill his vision. "Not this time Doc." Robin said, his voice full of venom as he grabbed the doctor by the scruff of his neck, pulled him down and cuffed him. The rest of the Titans had run over to where Raven had been standing, slightly dazed from her close brush with death. "You are unharmed I hope?" Starfire said anxiously as she looked Raven over from every direction. "Yeah, Starfire, I'm fine." The dark haired girl said, in her usual monotone voice, as if she experience near death every day.

She turned to look where the boy who had saved her was and, he wasn't there anymore. "Robin" she called out to the boy wonder who had finished dealing with Dr. Light, "He's gone" she said as Robin approached the rest of the Titans. He was about to respond but they suddenly heard something that sounded like retching. Turning around they could see Singularity no more than 50 feet away on his knees, vomiting up the contents of his stomach. Gasping for air as he stomach continued to lurch; he tried to stand again, only to feel his legs turn to rubber. Fear crept up into him as he started trying to crawl on his hands and knees again. It was near pure instinct at this point. Fight or flight, and his body was screaming at him, "Run you dumb bastard run!" But it was useless as the darkness embraced him and he fell into unconsciousness again.

The Titans rushed over to the collapsed teen. Cyborg getting there first, rolled him over onto his back, and winced at the condition he was in. "Man, this guy looks like he took a beating" he said as the cybernetic teen began scanning Raven's savior's vital signs. "What's the word Cy?" Beast Boy asked as he comically poked the unconscious teen with a small twig he had picked up off the ground. Slapping away Beast Boy's hand, Cyborg stood up. "He's in bad shape. This guy's got a concussion from hell. If he doesn't get help soon, he'll probably die." Starfire gasped in shock. "NO! We mustn't let the savior of our friend die!" she cried out as she grabbed Robin by the shoulders, "We must help him Robin." Nodding in agreement Robin turned to Cyborg, "Let's get him to the tower, it's the least we can do for him."

_Location: Abandoned oil field, Saudi Arabian desert- 300 miles east of Mecca_

A man sat in a rather comfortable looking chair staring at screens that filled the wall in front of him, a bottle of red wine on ice and glass on a small table next to him. All of them showed the fight between the Titans and Dr. Light. The angle being shown made it appear that it had been taken from a UAV of sorts. Pouring himself a glass of the wine, he took a sip and sighed in delight as the taste lingered on his tongue.

The Wine Drinking Man smiled slightly as the screens focused in on an angry and bloody Singularity. "Hmm, the operation so far looks like money well spent." He thought to himself. As the boy's power grew, his resolve grew just a little weaker. It was only a matter of time before he broke the meta-human's will to fight, the mercenaries would get their money. Everybody would go home happy. He originally had planned to simply get rid of the Death Watch once they had delivered Singularity to him, but after hearing the Major's threat it made him have a change of heart. The Wine Drinking Man wasn't afraid of the threat, his bodyguards would have made hardcore mercenaries like the Death Watch look like soldiers fresh out of basic training, but he had noticed that the Major had referred to his entire group when making the threat. He interpreted that as that Obrim was a good leader in that he made sure his men got their fair share on a job. Good leadership was a quality the Wine Drinking Man felt was lacking in people these days, and it deserved to be rewarded. An eyebrow was raised as he saw the Teen Titans carrying his prize back to their tower. "Well well." He said aloud as he took another sip of wine, "Let the mayhem begin"


	3. Escalation

**Chapter 2: Escalation**

_Location: Titans Tower Medical Bay; 30 minutes after super-villain attack_

"OK, let's get him on the bed" Cyborg said as he and Robin, lifted the limp, unconscious body of the teen who had saved Raven from an untimely departure from this world. Starfire and Beast Boy both cringed at the large gash on the teen's right temple. The wound had closed up again during the ride back to the tower, and now looked a rather sickening purple and black. The blood that had dripped down his head had coagulated, so it looked at a distance like his head was covered in some black liquid instead of blood. "Dude, he really must have taken one hell of a shot to end up like that" the changeling commented. "Oh, I do hope Raven's savior will be alright. Will he be ok Cyborg?" Starfire asked. "One thing at a time Star." The cybernetic teen said calmly. "First let's get these leads attached to him, so I can monitor his vital signs.

He opened the unconscious teen's jacket and leaned back. "Woah." He mumbled. "Ahh." said Robin as one mystery solved itself, "That's why he was wearing a bomber's jacket in the middle of July." Underneath the bomber jacket was a thick olive drab protective plate carrier used by private military contractors. "Please Cyborg, what is this large device attached to his chest?" asked Starfire as she had never seen body armor like this before. "It's a plate carrier Starfire." Robin said as he continued to stare at the armor. "It has ceramic plates in it designed to stop bullets." "Why is he wearing this stuff?" Raven shot out from her seat near the other Titans. Cyborg shrugged, "No idea. The carrier itself isn't' that hard to come by, but the plates are pretty damn expensive; the best can go for more than five grand a pop." Cyborg decided to end the discussion there as he really needed to start making sure the unconscious teen wasn't about to die right in front of them. He removed the plate carrier, while making sure the teen's head was stable before attaching the leads to his chest and head. The under armor shirt he had been wearing underneath the plate carrier was thin enough for the leads to get a good signal from his body.

Cyborg stared at the screen which was showing different numbers, graphs and other things Beast Boy didn't really understand. The only one he did get was the one that measured the unconscious teen's pulse rate. "Well from what I can see, guy doesn't have any visible brain damage from his head injury, but he's going to feel like he just got run over by a train when he wakes up." Cyborg announced to the rest of the Titans. "Well then I guess that means Raven gets to thank him when he wakes up" the green changeling chuckled glancing back at the dark haired sorceress as she left the room with the rest of the Titans. Raven, as usual, didn't bother to dignify Beast Boy's remark with a response.

_Location: Titans Tower Medical Bay; 9 hours after super-villain attack_

There was nothing to see. Nothing to see but endless black; the kind of black told in horror stories. There was plenty to hear though. Screaming, endless screams of pain and pleas to God and others for salvation. That was what Singularity could hear as he lay in the Titan's medical bay unconscious from the severe concussion he received. One voice started rising above the others. It was just laughing and laughing hard by anyone's standards. Suddenly all sound stopped, and Singularity found himself standing in the blackness, in the nothingness. "You know, once you get past the tragedy of it all, the irony is absolutely hysterical." The voice suddenly said. Unable to see any owner to the voice, Singularity just decided to play along with the voice, which was starting to sound familiar. "All right I'll bite; the irony of what?" he asked. "I'm talking about the irony of how you have so much power, but all that follows this power is pain and destruction." The voice said, finally having taken form. Singularity's eyes widened as he stared at himself.

The only visible difference was the gaze from his double's eyes seemed far more sinister; cold and uncaring. "Who are you?" the teen snarled as he took a step back. The double pretended to swoon, clutching its chest in mock shock. "I'm insulted! How you could not recognize yourself?" the double asked sounding scandalized. "I'm you. I'm your shadow!" it said to the now scared teen, its voice becoming deathly serious. "I'm the monument to all your sins! And yet I feel like I should call you daddy."

The fear had steadily been rising in Singularity's heart but the last comment by this psychotic version of himself stunned him. "Wha…?" he began before being cut off by the double grabbing him by the front of his clothes and dragging his face up to Singularity's. "If it wasn't for you, I would exist. You try so hard to do the right things, but only pain follows, and your guilt festers and spreads like a virus within you. You can't handle it, so here I am." The double finished looking smug. "I'm losing it." Singularity mumbled to himself, his fright returning with a vengeance. He suddenly found himself alone in the black again. "Well I wouldn't be here if you weren't." the double's voice called out from the blackness. "You didn't think you could cause a nightmare like that and not have some mental scarring?" the double sneered as Singularity kept his head on a swivel, looking for his doppelganger. "It doesn't matter though, you'll come to understand the reason it happened and what your purpose is. And when you do, I'll be there. See you soon." The double said with a chuckle as it got the last word in before the blackness exploded into light.

The Titans had taken turns watching the unconscious teen in their medical bay but having been out for so long, they had elected to quickly get a meal down before taking turns watching him again. So no one was there to see the screens monitoring Singularity's vitals as they began going nuts. "GAAAAHH!" he screamed as the meta-human shot upright gasping in terror. The terror got worse as he looked down and found leads attached to his chest and head. His mind had defaulted to his worst-case scenario that involved being captured by the Death Watch and their client. Ripping the leads off his chest and head, Singularity managed to get himself on his feet, despite his legs having the consistency of gelatin. A shrill beep suddenly began echoing throughout the medical bay. Apparently ripping the leads off his body had made the machines think his vital signs had dropped to zero. Clutching his head in pain from the noise along with happening to notice someone had decided to suture up the gash above his eyebrow, Singularity staggered out of the room and into the grey hallway. He could hear raised voices coming, so he started down the hallway going the other direction. Sadly, since he had no idea where he was, he ended up going further into Titan's Tower.

The Titan's meal was going along in its usual manner. Cyborg and Beast Boy were embroiled in their traditional war on meat and tofu, and which was superior to the other. Starfire was trying to get Robin to eat some disgusting concoction that was supposedly a delicacy on her home world of Tamaran (which smelled like ozone for some reason) and Raven was watching the madness ensue all the while sipping a cup of tea. She was quite stoic despite the chaos around her, but it was her nature to be so. Her mind wandered back to the unconscious teen lying comatose in the Titan's medical bay. She still couldn't figure out how he had saved her life the night before. All she knew was that she had been falling to the ground and unable to focus long enough to stop the fall by herself. Raven pursed her lips. She was pretty sure it was telekinesis of some form, a form she had never encountered before and it made her uneasy about him. The fact that he had been wearing body armor and that Cyborg's X-rays of the teen's body showed that he had been shot in past simply added to her unease. Regardless, Raven was grateful for him saving her life.

The normalcy was shattered by the shrill beeping that came from Cyborg's arm. Glancing at it, his one human eye widened. "Oh god, he flat lined!" he said running for the door with the rest of the Titans in hot pursuit. The noise from Cyborg's arm was drowned out by the noise coming from the machines in the medical bay. "Where'd he go?" was the first thing out of Beast Boy's mouth, echoing the thoughts of the rest of the Titans. "Titans, Spread out, let's make sure he's not still in here, curled up half-dead in a corner." Robin called out, immediately in leader mode. Starfire made sure to watch the door, just in case. After searching the medical bay for a few minutes, it was clear their guest was somewhere else in the tower. They all began searching the various hallways and rooms.

While this was going on, Singularity had only managed to get himself hopelessly lost in the tower's vast networks of hallways. What made it more aggravating to him was that he thought he was still on the same floor that the medical bay was on. After a few more minutes of staggering about, he found some stairs leading up. At the end of them, much to his delight was a simple door. The relief Singularity had felt from finding the door, was short-lived as the door was locked. With his head pounding too much to create a gravity field to crush the door with, he defaulted to what any person would probably do; kick the door down. The first kick did nothing but send a ripple of pain up his leg, but Singularity did his best to ignore it and continued assaulting the door.

Robin had been searching the corridors near the roof, but had found no sign of the missing teen. He was about to call it quits for that floor when he heard the banging of something against metal. Looking about he could tell it was coming somewhere near the roof access staircase. Quickly pressing a button on his communicator he radioed the Titan's get to the roof access stairs. The boy wonder began running towards the staircase, the banging noise becoming louder, confirming his suspicion that the teen was trying to open the door. Arriving at the stairs he could see the silhouette of the teen at the door. "Hey!" he called out, "Calm down buddy." The teen looked behind him and gave a strangled cry of panic. With one last burst of strength the teen finally kicked the door open and stumbled onto the roof.

Singularity was in full panic mode now. He had been spotted by…someone, he didn't know who. With every last ounce of strength he had left, kicked the door open. "YES!" he thought "Daylight! I'm free." He ran out into the light, but what he saw next nearly killed him. All he could see in three directions was ocean. In the fourth direction was the city that he had been in earlier in the distance. "NO!" he screamed as he staggered towards the edge of the rooftop. Looking down he realized that he was on an island, with nowhere to run. Jumping off the rooftop towards the water wouldn't work. Even if he had been in tip-top condition, Singularity's powers couldn't let him walk on water. He was a meta-human, not Jesus. Despair was all he could feel now realizing there was no way out. The teen heard more footsteps behind him and he turned around to face his supposed captors. The rest of the Teen Titans had made it to the roof and were all looking at him worriedly. Singularity could feel his breathing increase and the headache begin to ease off making it easier to focus and use his powers. It was so sudden, he almost grabbed his head to make sure it was gone but then remembered the situation at hand. "What do you want with me?" he growled clenching his fists, the air around them beginning to ripple as the gravity around them began to warp. He tried to sound tough, but his eyes gave him away. The fear in them was quite evident.

The Titans tensed up, expecting the teen to attack them. Robin being the fearless leader stepped forward. "You were hurt badly; we brought you back to our home to save you last night, so shouldn't you be thankful?" The boy wonder said in a rather annoyed tone. "Who the hell are you anyway?" The teen edged back; the rippling effect around his hands became more violent. "Last night's a bit of a blur to me asshole! For all I know, you guys cleaned me up, just so you could hand me over to the Death Watch!" he snarled. Robin raised an eyebrow. He had no idea what the teen was talking about and wasn't sure how to respond. A pale hand was put on his shoulder and Robin turned to see Raven next to him. "Robin, you're only making him more unstable. Let me handle this." Robin frowned, "Something's not right with him Raven. We don't know anything about him or if he's working with someone." The sorceress merely rolled her eyes at this comment. "You say that about a lot of people, besides I'm pretty certain he's not working for someone." She said with finality. "Oh and why's that?" asked Robin. "Look at him boy blunder, he's terrified. He has no idea where he is, who we are or what's going on." Robin glanced back at the teen. Yes, at second glance the teen did look scared out of his mind. He motioned his head towards the teen agreeing to let Raven try and calm him down. "Please be careful friend Raven." Starfire whispered to her friend, "I fear he could do something dangerous in his state." Raven merely nodded in acknowledgement as she slowly approached the teen.

_Location: Death Watch Mobile Command: Red Crown; Desert 10 miles outside Jump City; 11 hours after super villain attack_

The hustle and bustle around Major Obrim was almost cathartic to him. To him it was the sound of everything before the battle, which only led to disappointment when he remembered their mission was a hunt instead of a stand up fight. He loved the sounds, smells and action of true warfare; not this pussyfooting about spending time and resources trying to capture one person. "Anderson!" the major barked and one of his soldiers ran to him and saluted. "Yeah Boss?" "Where's the damn power? Those generators should be running by now." As he said this, a low hum was heard and screens and spotlights all began to turn on. "Uhhh power's on sir." Anderson said, still standing at attention. The Major rolled his eyes and motioned for the soldier to carry on. "Major Obrim sir, we have satellite images of the city coming up now" called a voice to Obrim's left. Walking over to where the images of Jump City were shown on the screens, Obrim stared at them intently.

The city looked heavily populated, had a weird t-shaped tower jutting up from some small island in the bay, and had no airport. A plan began to formulate within the Major's head. He flipped a switch on a console above him. "Attention!" he called into the microphone. "All units heed and stand to. I want a want a sensor perimeter surrounding the entire city from three miles out, I want it so that if the kid decides to make a run for it through the desert, we can tell if he sneezes. Make it happen people!" "You!" the major pointed to a technician; "Get me a video camera and then hook me into every single broadcasting station and frequency in that city, TV, radio, everything. I want the entire population of the city to hear what I'm going to say." Obrim placed his hands behind his back and smirked. Trying to find their target in that city by themselves would take forever and had little chance of success. Instead Obrim was going to make the Death Watch's target come to them.

_Location: Jump City Downtown District; 3 minutes to Death Watch broadcast_

Singularity ate the pizza in front of him like a man about to starve to death. Raven had managed to calm him down enough for all of them to go back inside and talk. She had convinced him to tell the Titans who he was. He chuckled quietly to himself as he remembered the look on Beast Boy's face when he was explaining his powers back at the tower.

"DUDE! You seriously can control gravity and stuff?!" Beast Boy exclaimed in disbelief while Singularity stood there with a sheepish look on his face. "Yeah, did I stutter?" he asked quietly. "Oh please! You must demonstrate this power for us!" Starfire pleaded. "She's right man, this I got to see" was Cyborg's remark. Singularity sighed and began walking towards the wall. "Alright here's the teaser trailer, and cue the fan girls." He muttered. With a deep breath, the gravity manipulator put his foot flat on the wall and concentrated gravity on that foot. He did the same with the other foot. He walked up and around the wall with ease, all while having his arms behind his head. There were a few oohs and ahhs coming from some of the Titans. He rolled his eyes while looking "up" at the Titans. "You want me to do a dance, or clap my hands and bark like a seal?" he asked in a half joking manner. "Impressive, can you also increase the amount of gravity around you?" asked Robin, quite intrigued by the unusual sight in front of him. "Yeah" said Singularity as he walked off the wall and back onto the floor. "I can manipulate it so that it can be at my fists or all around me. It's only limited by how hard I can push myself. Creating small fields like around my feet not only allow me to scale walls, but they can also help me run faster." The gravity manipulator added. "How fast?" asked Cyborg. Singularity just shrugged, "I can make an Olympic sprinter look like a joke if I'm running for my life" he responded, his face deadpan.

It all made sense now. He had somehow reversed gravity around Raven preventing what would have been a devastating, if not fatal impact with the ground during the fight with Dr. Light. She looked over at her savior and realized she had never thanked him for saving her life. Singularity continued to scarf down the pizza as Raven approached him; he did have the sense to wipe his mouth before she sat down across from him. "What's up?" he asked. "I just wanted to say…well…thank you for saving me." Raven said awkwardly. Usually she was the one doing the saving and it felt weird to have the shoe on the other foot. Singularity just blushed slightly. "Heh, your welcome, I uhhh… just kind of acted on instinct. Really, don't worry about it." He said quietly, smiling at Raven. His smile was quickly replaced with confusion as a booming voice came from the giant screen in the building across the street from the pizza place. "GOOD MORNING CITIZENS OF JUMP CITY!" it boomed as the screens showed a man standing in front of the camera with a balaclava on his face. "YOU NEED NOT WORRY; I AM HERE TO ASK FOR YOUR HELP." The pizza Singularity had just eaten suddenly felt the need to make an emergency exit. He just knew this wouldn't end well. "Who's this guy?" asked Beast Boy as he stared at the screen with everyone else. "I don't know, but somehow he's hijacked every broadcasting frequency used by the city." Said Cyborg, "TV, radio, internet, everything." Raven stood there also wondering who this person was. She glanced over at Singularity, who looked like a man who had just had his death sentence read. Almost immediately she concluded this man had something to do with the gravity manipulator and was about to call him out on it, when all hell broke loose. "THIS IS A PICTURE OF A METAHUMAN. HE IS AN EXTREMELY VALUABLE ASSET TO MY COMRADES AND I." the masked man said as Singularity's picture was shown on every TV screen in Jump City. It was almost a sad picture. A candid photo of Singularity walking the main street of a small town. He looked exhausted, worn out and a lot older than he really was. "WE ARE OFFERING A FIVE MILLION DOLLAR BOUNTY TO WHOEVER BRINGS HIM TO THE CITY OUTSKIRTS ALIVE. WE WILL FIND YOU. I WILL REPEAT MYSELF, FIVE MILLION IN CASH TO THE PERSON WHO BRINGS THIS BOY TO THE CITY OUTSKIRTS. GOOD HUNTING." The voice finished before the transmission was cut. There was a silence unheard of in urban areas as the information sank into the minds of the citizens of Jump City. The Titans on the other hand, turned their heads in unison to stare at Singularity, who at this point was paler than thought humanly possible; a look of unspeakable terror on his face.

Singularity's mind froze when he saw his picture plastered on the screen. The Death Watch had decided to up the ante. His mind came back up to speed when he heard something that sank what was left of his heart. "OVER THERE! THERE HE IS!" screamed a woman standing on the ground right below the pizza parlor. As if it had been taken straight from a zombie movie, the building was quickly swarmed by hundreds of civilians, each one pushing, kicking, biting and clawing their way into the pizza parlor with dollar signs in their eyes. Robin's eyes widened in shock; he had never seen something like this before and as he looked at Singularity, the boy wonder could see in his eyes something that unnerved him. It was a look of absolute terror and desperation. Before any of the Titans could react to the mob below, Singularity made his exit. His attempt to leap over to the side of a building across the street was barely successful, but just as he began to run up it, bullets began whizzing by him causing him to flinch and lose his focus. His forward momentum up the side of the building halted so suddenly, it was as if the gravity manipulator had run into an invisible wall. There was a collective gasp from the Titans and the citizens of Jump City as he began to fall, though their reasons for gasping differed greatly.

"Ohgodohgodohgod!" Singularity screamed in his head, "I gotta get out, must get out." By some miracle he managed to regain his concentration, to allow his hand to grip a window sill. The sudden stop caused his body to jerk violently. A cry of pain escaped the teen's lips as he felt his shoulder protest the violent stop. Fighting the pain with everything he had, Singularity forced himself to focus the gravity around him on the wall and continue up the wall. Had the situation not been so dire, it would have been funny to see him spider up the wall. His luck continued to hold as who ever had been shooting at him had stopped, most likely subdued by the crowd not wanting to lose the biggest pay day ever to an idiot with a gun. Singularity gasped as he finally reached the roof of the building. Hauling himself over the threshold with his one good arm, he lay there on the roof clutching his throbbing shoulder. He pushed himself into a sitting position so he could look at it, and to his relief, it hadn't dislocated but he would have to go easy on it for a while. Getting to his feet, he carefully leaned over the edge of the building to look below him. It was chaos. People were scrambling to get inside the building, trying their hardest to make it to the roof and collect. The gravity manipulator turned away, his mind slowly becoming numb once more. He couldn't stand it. Rubbing his eyes, he started walking towards the other edge of the roof, planning to jump across to the other side, when the Titans showed up on the rooftop.

Realizing that they wouldn't be able to control the crowd, Robin had ordered the Titans to catch up to Singularity. Starfire was the first to find him standing on the rooftop and signaled the others. The alien girl felt sorry for him as she could relate to constantly being hunted by someone. "Are you alright friend?" she asked, concerned about how exhausted the teen looked. Singularity simply stared at her with a hollow look in his eyes, "Not really." By this time the rest of the Titans had shown up and were all staring at him. "Robin, I am afraid that the people here will end up hurting our new friend if we do not do something." Starfire said to the boy wonder. "Yeah man," Cyborg said to Singularity, "Whoever that guy was, he stirred up the hive. I'm getting reports from all over the city of people assaulting others who look similar to you. They'll probably rip you apart if they find you." The gravity manipulator simply glared at Cyborg, "You think?" was his sarcastic reply.

Singularity lowered his gaze to the ground and snorted in disgust. "They're all idiots." The Titans were taken aback at how much force was behind those words. "Do they honestly think they'll get a cent from those bastards?!" he went on his voice becoming louder and angrier. "These guys are battle hardened mercs. They have an ego bigger than you can imagine, and the fact that I've evaded them for so long I assume has really pissed them off. What do you think they're going to do to the person who catches me huh?" Beast Boy raised his hand, "Uhhh give the guy the money that was promised?" "NO!" shouted Singularity, "They'll give him or her two in the back of the head. It would be an insult to their pride that Joe Schmoe off the street was able to do what they couldn't!" Beast Boy quickly shut up, scared silent from Singularity's outburst. Seeing Beast Boy's reaction, the gravity manipulator felt his anger melt away and be replaced with a sense of hopelessness. He turned away from the Titans, hanging his head. "I should have seen it coming." He mumbled to himself. The Titan's strained to hear his words. "I should have seen they were cutting me off, until they had me cornered. Now they're moving in for the prize." He felt a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll help you" said Robin. "You just need to tell us what's going on."

Raven had stayed out of the conversation, trying to get a feel on why this was all suddenly happening. After hearing Singularity mutter about being cornered, she had realized that he was probably right. The city didn't have an airport, so he couldn't flee the country. Escaping on foot was pointless as there was nothing but desert outside the city. She also had a suspicion that that was where these people had set up shop and would probably have the means to find him if he left the city. She had to agree with Robin, they needed to help him, but with the city in an uproar, there were more pressing matters to attend to. Clearing her throat she stepped forward. "I think we should worry about all this back at the tower. The crowd below isn't going anywhere so I think it would be best if we made our exit." She said matter of factly. And to put a period to her sentence, the door to the roof access of the building made a loud thud as someone on the other side tried to open it. "Raven! Teleport now!" Robin ordered. With a wave of her hand, Raven enveloped the Titans and Singularity in an orb of black energy before vanishing entirely, leaving the people who had made it to the roof snarling in anger.

_Location: Wine-Drinking Man's abandoned oil field, Saudi Arabian desert- 300 miles east of Mecca_

The Wine Drinking Man leaned forward in his chair as he stared at the screen in front of him. Obrim had really done something unexpected, and this concerned him. "Like poking a hornet's nest with your nose." He thought to himself. His plans would be useless if the boy ended up torn to pieces by the mob that was now Jump City's population. But then again, he had personally told Obrim that the means didn't matter, so long as the metahuman was alive when brought to him. "I suppose I should have a little faith in them." The Wine Drinking Man said to no one in particular as he reached for the bottle of Italian red next to him. "I simply hope that all our sakes the people of Jump City have more restraint than they have shown me so far. It would be a shame for twenty years of work to go completely to waste." It was his last thought before losing himself in the delightful taste of the wine.

_Location: Unknown underground cavern, Jump City Riots +2hrs_

The Wine Drinking Man was not the only person watching the chaos going on in Jump City. In his newly rebuilt base of operations, Slade stared at the screens in front of him. CCTV cameras installed by the Jump City Police Department had extremely low security so it was a breeze for the one eyed villain to hack the feed and watch the madness in the city. He had Obrim's message to the city playing on a loop on a smaller screen. "Well well, now that's an interesting way of catching your prey." He said to the screen. "Flush him out by making the environment unbearable. Bravo mystery man." Slade continued with mocking applause. The cameras had only gotten glimpses of Singularity in action against Dr. Light the day before and even now, Slade was still unsure as to what powers the boy had. From a distance it looked like telekinesis but there was no sign of a psionic aura on the hands and arms that usually accompanied a psionic human. But Slade liked a challenge, "It's been a while since something as interesting as you came along." Slade thought as he stared at the frozen image of a terrified Singularity. "Let's see what you've got boy."

Author's Note: I apologize in advance for taking forever to write this. Classes and work has been killer so I've been writing and editing this chapter in small spurts. It's difficult to make this what I want it to be but without making too hard for you readers to suspend your disbelief. Feel free to comment on stuff that seems out of whack. Thanks.


	4. Explanation

**Chapter 3: Explanation**

It was chaos in the city as the population ripped the place apart, hoping to get their hands on a $5 million dollar payout. Fights broke out in alleyways as people fought over who should search an area first. The hospitals were full as more and more injured came streaming in through their emergency room doors. Many of the injured were lookalikes of the one they were hunting. The rest were from the lookalikes defending themselves against their attackers. Thirty five people had already been killed. There were rumors spreading throughout the city that the military was gearing up to enforce martial law to stop the riots, which only sent the mobs into an even more frenzied state. But eventually the people were beginning to lose steam as nobody had found Singularity and they began to see the chaos and destruction they had brought upon themselves.

_Location: Titans Tower, Jump City riots +2 days_

The Titans were crowded around their TV watching the chaos slowly begin to die. The news was reporting the police were finally getting a handle on controlling the riots, and people were beginning to realize $5 million wasn't worth destroying the city in the process. Robin had had the Titans go out in groups of 3 to help assist the police try and control the riots over the last two days. He was careful though to make sure at least two titans were with Singularity at all times, in case someone got a clue and figured out that Titans Tower was the likely place he was hiding out in.

It wasn't until about a day and a half in that Raven realized that Singularity had barely said a word since she had teleported them all back to the Tower. As soon as her magic had faded, the teen had shuffled his way to the couch, sat down and just stared out the window. His eyes looked glazed and unmoving. Cyborg had called it "the thousand yard stare" and mentioned that it usually only happened to those who had experienced severe mentally traumatic events. Singularity only moved from the couch when he was offered food, and even then he would eat as if it were his last meal. The Titans were getting nervous about his mental state, but the city had been diverting their attention.

"Well at least things are finally dying down." Sighed Cyborg as he and the other Titans stood in the kitchen, Singularity still motionless on the couch. Starfire wanted to rejoice but could tell that everyone was uneasy and she decided to hold off for now. "So fearless leader, what do we do now?" Raven asked the boy wonder. Robin glanced at Raven before turning to look at Singularity, "First, we need answers from him" he said firmly. "Obviously there's something he's not telling us and I want to know now." Beast Boy tried to interject, "Dude, don't you think you should go easy on him? I mean, he could have died out there." Robin gave the changeling a sympathetic glance. "I know Beast Boy, but I need to know what's going on. Whoever these guys are, they're playing for keeps. Anybody who's willing to incite riots to get a hold of one person is obviously more than willing to hurt anyone who gets in his way."

_Location: Death Watch HQ Red Crown; _

Disappointed and yet amused, Major Obrim sat in his office pondering over the events of the last few days. He was annoyed that the population of Jump City had ended their mad hunt for his prize but could help find the people's reaction to his announcement hysterical. It was pointless to raise the offer as it wasn't likely to work twice. A shift in tactics was needed. Obrim pressed the intercom, "Corporal Silva to my office on the double soldier!" About three minutes passed before a knock was heard on the door. "Enter" the Major called out and Corporal Silva came into the office. "Sir! Corporal Silva repor..." "Yes, yes, skip the formalities right now Silva." The major said irritably

Major Obrim stood up and walked over to the screen that outlined the young corporal's mission. "Simply put son, you're our best scout and it seems we're going to have to get creative now that we've got the little prick cornered." Silva only nodded in agreement with his commander's statement. "I want you in the city, walk amongst the people, and see if there is anyone who might have an idea where the target might be hiding. If you happen to encounter our target, DO NOT engage him. Become his shadow instead. The more we know about what he's doing here and who he is in contact with, the better chance we will have at grabbing him quickly. I know it's a bit different from our usual ROE but so far our current tactics have done jack shit. Now get on it!" Silva gave the major a salute and turned on his heel walking out the door. The corporal was a man of few words.

_Location: Downtown Jump City; Corporal Silva mission timer: +3:25:11_

Silva had to cover his nose as he walked the ruined street, vermin scurrying about his ankles. Somehow during the riots, the sewer lines had been severed, and now raw sewage was oozing out through storm drains and loose manholes. The fact that the sanitation workers were not back on the job yet didn't help as strewn about garbage added to the stench. The corporal had once lain in cow manure as he did surveillance on a previous target. That had been bad, but it seemed human waste was ten times worse and he fought the urge to gag. Silva used the time to reflect on the Death Watch's current target. He felt that their limited resources were being wasted just sitting outside the city in the desert. They had more than enough firepower to take the city and hold it if needed. Until the US military got wise and mobilized to take the city back. But what bothered him more was that it was a snatch and grab mission. They had been trying to complete their mission for over a year. Jobs like that should take days at the most. This wasn't what Silva had signed up for. He joined up to fight other people's wars for chump change and the thrill of it, just like any other mercenary on the face of the earth. But he pushed his thoughts aside. Silva had made his bones with the Death Watch, and he had a job to do. He continued further into the city keeping his ears open for any talk about his target. __

_Location: Titans Tower_

"We need to talk Singularity." Robin said sternly. His tone of voice was forceful enough to snap Singularity out of his stupor. "About what?" was the quiet reply. "We may have just met but it's pretty obvious whoever that was on the screen two days ago knows you and you're quite valuable to him." The gravity manipulator tensed, his mind suddenly jumping to the conclusion that the Titans were going to sell him out. "What makes you so valuable to him?" Robin asked, frowning as he saw the teen sitting in front of him suddenly tense up and then ease down.

A snort escaped Singularity's lips and he shook his head before muttering, "I knew I shouldn't have come here." He sighed and looked back at the Titans standing behind Robin. "His name is Major Obrim, he's the commander of an army of mercenaries called Death Watch. Robin's frown deepened. He recognized that name from his time beside Batman. He was especially familiar with their reputation for ruthlessness. The Boy Wonder's gut told him the person in front of him probably wasn't with them, but he decided to confirm it anyway. "So, are you a member who grew a conscience or something?" he said a little more harshly than he would have liked. Singularity cringed slightly but maintained what little composure he had. "No, I'm their paycheck." The teen said bitterly. That raised some eyebrows. "I don't get it, what do you mean?" asked Beast Boy scratching his head. Singularity glanced at the changeling, "I mean they're hunting me. They've been hunting me for over a year now." Raven looked contemplative. She now realized why Singularity had reacted the way he did when he woke up in their medical bay. She also now understood the X-rays that had shown signs of bullet wounds. The Death Watch must have been shooting at him some time ago. Her sympathy for the gravity manipulator grew as he continued his story.

"To make a long story short, somebody contracted them to capture me. I found out from one of the wounded mercs how big the price on my head is." Singularity said his voice becoming more and more quiet and unsteady. There was a rather pregnant pause. "Well how much is it?" asked Cyborg. "Fifty million dollars," was the response. Every Titan's eyes grew wide with amazement. "To be paid in full upon delivery of target," the teen said with finality.

No one spoke for a while, trying to get their heads around the story until, "DUDE! That's a boatload of money!" squealed Beast Boy, who continued rambling on about the enormous bounty until Raven used her powers to shut him up. "You're not helping him!" she hissed at the green changeling. Beast Boy glanced back at Singularity who was staring at his feet as if shameful. "Heh heh. Sorry bro," the changeling said sheepishly. Robin decided to bring everyone back on topic. "That still doesn't explain why they were hired in the first place. What does their client want with you?" Singularity could barely bring himself to look Robin in the eye. "I haven't a clue," he said bitterly. Robin continued to stare down the teen. "I mean it I don't know. But I can guess." "Thrill me" Robin said motioning towards Singularity.

The gravity manipulator frowned and got to his feet. The air around his hand began to warp and a fork that had been left on the table flew into Singularity's hand and he held it up to the Titans. "Look at this fork." Starfire opened her mouth, "I fail to see what this eating utensil has…" "Just bear with me please." Singularity pleaded. "Just look at the fork." He said as it now hovered above his hand, the air between his palm and the fork shimmered. "The gravitational field I have around this fork is about 2g's." he said calmly, The fork began to curl down towards his palm. "Now its, 5g's" Some of the Titans began to feel uneasy about what Singularity was doing. The fork began to make a rather nasty sound as it suddenly began to crush into a ball that got smaller and smaller until Singularity let the field go and what was left fell to the floor. "25'gs. Twenty five times the earth's natural gravity; If I can do that to a fork, imagine what I can do to a car…or a skyscraper," his voice began to get quieter, "or a human being." There was an audible gasp amongst the Titans.

"That's what I think this guy wants. He wants a weapon that can destroy pretty much anything." He looked around at the Titans who were still shocked, until his eyes rested on Raven. He gave her a sad smile, "That's me." He whispered and then turned to pick up the balled up remains of the fork. He tossed it to Beast Boy who flailed about trying to catch it. "It's a souvenir," the gravity manipulator said with disdain

_Location: Saudi Arabia, Wine Drinking Man's Abandoned Oil Field. 8:31 PM local time_

The Wine Drinking Man casually sipped his drink as he patiently waited for his subordinate to report in. A holographic map of the world with hundreds of red dots on it, indicating an operation in progress was in front of him. An indicator on the arm of his chair began to blink and he pressed it. The map disappeared and a haggard looking man in a lab coat appeared on the screen. "Dr. Lawson" the Wine Drinking Man began, "I trust you are making progress?" The doctor smeared a small blood stain on his coat casually, "Yes, though the changes you asked for have created more problems than they have solved. If we had the prime subject on hand or a good genetic sample, the project could be complete in a matter of months instead of years sir," he said, letting a hint of annoyance show in his voice.

The Wine Drinking Man merely continued to sip his wine, "Doctor, we are having difficulty in obtaining the prime subject so you'll have to make do until then." "Sir, at this point we've gotten far enough to where we only need a genetic sample. The whole subject would be preferable in case something goes wrong." The Wine Drinking Man raised an eyebrow, "Do I need to worry about something going wrong Dr. Lawson?" he asked rhetorically. The doctor blanched, "N-no sir, but it never hurts to be too careful." "Indeed doctor. As I said, efforts are being made to capture the subject, but for now deal with what you currently have. I expect another report soon." He said, authority radiating from his voice as he closed the connection before the doctor could reply. "Years is unacceptable." He thought to himself, "But if Lawson no longer needs the boy as a whole, then I suppose I have no choice." The Wine Drinking Man pressed a series of buttons, which allocated more funding to Dr. Lawson's team and then reached for a satellite phone that rested next to a bottle of French wine. Dialing a number, he pressed it to his ear. "Major Obrim." He began his voice silky and pleasant. "There's been a change of plans Major; I believe a new contract is in order.


End file.
